Communter car...which one?

[RooflessVW]

I'd say that those are far from the only available choices but, forced to choose, I'd pick the Milan.

4 cylinder and nice enough inside. A friend of mine had one in Germany and he piled a ton of autobahn miles on without a hiccup.

 

[Cubey]

Late 90s to early 2000s Corollas are cheap and plentiful, and get great MPG, 32-35 highway is common.

http://fuelly.com/car/toyota/corolla

 

[skyactiv]

Originally Posted by Vern_in_IL
Originally Posted by skyactiv
What are you currently driving? Most people don't need a work car as it's just false economy.


Disagree. I believe it is a false economy to drive around a F-350 lifted truck for a "commute to work car"


Unless you live 7 miles from work like I do and work 4 days a week.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

My choice would be the Milan. It's a bigger fatter Mazda6, and the 2.3L is from Mazda.

The other two are transverse V6's that are impossible to work on. The 3800 is a heavy iron block with LIM gasket issues and dripping coolant, and if you ever need to get to the back of the engine, you need a crowbar to tile the engine forward. Toyota transverse V6 designs are downright awful. Removing the intake is a huge pain

 

[bowlofturtle]

The toyota is normally my vote but not really at 250k. If you owned it for a while and it had 250k, that might be a different story. Best case you are at 50% of life on the 3.5L motor, worst cast 5%. Too much hassle for me.

I would go with option 2, always try to get the newest car. Small chance of better creature comforts or better safety standards. To the average car buyer, they only care about miles and year so getting the newest car could be the higher resell value you are looking for.

 

[Skippy722]

Get the Buick. My friend in high school had a LaSabre. We LOVED that car as teenagers. Super comfortable and got decent fuel economy.